


Light & Fire

by Radiant_Shooketh



Category: Hollow Knight (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Dreams and Nightmares, F/M, Heavy Angst, Hurt No Comfort, Lifeblood cocoons, My version of the Radiance and Grimm's relationship, Team Cherry you're killing me lol, The Infection, Why is Hollow Knight lore so complicated?, Why is Hollow Knight lore so cryptic and vague?, no hate pls, origin story kinda
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-25
Updated: 2020-01-25
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:02:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22399030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Radiant_Shooketh/pseuds/Radiant_Shooketh
Summary: Something that has never been answered in the game: I know Grimm and the Radiance are connected in some way (Dreams vs Nightmares leitmotif, full screen title cards for their fight, the fact that they're Higher Beings dealing with dreams and shit), so this is my take on their... relationship? Please no hate, I just thought of this and was like "Hey, that would be cool." I was a little hesitant at first because most fics I've read, they interpret the two as siblings. But oh well, here it is: my take is that they're married! Yeah, sue me. I had a fun time writing this, though. So, I hope you guys enjoy reading.
Relationships: The Radiance/Nightmare King Grimm
Comments: 10
Kudos: 38





	Light & Fire

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Now that we've grown, we wander alone](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18291695) by [ClockworkRainbow](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ClockworkRainbow/pseuds/ClockworkRainbow). 



> Since Hollow Knight's lore is so damn confusing and vague to begin with, a lot of these interpretations may seem wrong to you. It might be, but this is how I imagine it to be. I may not totally believe it myself, but I thought it was pretty cool for this story. Oh well.

Once upon a time, there were 5 domains that coexisted peacefully within the realm of dreams. The Dream Realm is the space between body and soul. It contains the eternal dreams and memories of bugs. The one who held the most power in this realm was a beautiful and shining goddess. Shining as bright as the substance found within dreams, she ruled over the main area of the Dream Realm in solitude. As the primary ruler of dreams, she was there to survey all dreams and memories that exist within the hearts and minds of all the bugs in the world. She fed off the dreams of these bugs, their positive emotions giving her hope and infinite fuel. 

Her light was so overpowering that it pushed back any shadow and sealed away the darkness down to the bottom of worlds. Although she ruled the realm with dominance and brilliance, she found herself feeling lonely many times. Not travelling much within her own realm as strange as that sounded, so she decided to explore it.

The first little domain had this green calming aura of Essence, as well as an endless pool of green water. The ruler of this domain was sleeping somewhere within these waters. It was rumoured that she also exists in the physical world somewhere, where she had created followers who worshipped and obeyed her. 

The second place was this shining golden area with strange individuals. Rumour has it, their gods had abandoned them long ago due to unknown reasons. This domain was dedicated to seeking out godly figures, attune to them, and finally to ascend with them. The goddess was mildly intrigued but didn’t want to meddle with their affairs, so she continued on with her quest. The people from this realm looked at in her awe and winced as they looked upon her gleaming figure.

The next place was probably one of the goddess’s favourite places. The background was a charming and relaxing blue and there were these strange looking cocoons all over the place. After banishing the darkness at the bottom of worlds, a part of the darkness broke off and struck a deal with her. The creature here was peaceful, unlike the darkness she had to fend off eons ago. The creature looked at her with its numerous blue eyes before closing them again and resuming its nap. Not wanting to disturb them any longer, the goddess continued her journey.

The last area of dreams is where her interests had truly spiked. It was an entire area of nothing but red Essence everywhere. Here, she knew where she was. This was the second most powerful domain in the world of dreams. Here, unlike in her kingdom where she looks out and gets her life force from the dreams and memories of bugs, this realm dealt with the bad memories of bugs. One that feeds off of fear and power, but that was the beauty of the Dream Realm because these two realms specifically have to exist and work together in harmony, to maintain balance. And the ruler of this realm, while intimidating and seemingly foreboding at first, was actually soft spoken and warm (both literally and in terms of personality). 

King Grimm, ruler of the Nightmare Realm. 

Dreams and Nightmares are like day and night, the sun and the moon. Complete opposites, yet functions quite similarly to each other. The goddess had met the God of Nightmares that fateful day. Similarly to her, he shone quite brightly. As opposed to her shining white light, he had a shining red aura to him. A shining red flame that constantly burned bright. They had always worked together as they ruled the Dream Realm, though apart from each other. The goddess paid a visit to the Nightmare Realm every day since meeting the god face to face. Eventually, the duo ended up falling in love with each other. They got along perfectly, had many similarities and interests, and their differences ended up pulling them closer. 

It was about a year later where the god proposed to the goddess. As a private union between these 2 Higher Beings, they each gave up half of their soul to the other. Now and forever, they’ll have parts of each other to hold onto. Aside from that, the Nightmare Realm was moved from the furthest of the dreams and into the goddess’s kingdom. Dream and Nightmare existing together, their rulers surveying the constant dreams and nightmares that occured and dealt with them accordingly. The loving couple ruled over the essential parts of the Dream Realm, side by side. The goddess looking majestic as ever with her 3 pronged crown and shining figure and next to her was her warm and caring husband, tall scarlet horns and elegant figure. They were close as any couple could be, if not the closest.

But then the goddess’s priorities started to change.

Now if someone were to ask you what the difference was between Dreams and Nightmares, anyone would probably say the Dreams are good and Nightmares are bad. But what if that statement was a lie? Ever since the events that played out after the Nightmare Realm was banished entirely from the Dream Realm, one could be thankful Nightmares existed after all. Some say that Nightmares are actually a good thing because they bring bugs closer together. Sure they may seem terrifying but once any bug wakes up, they are surrounded by their loved ones. Close by for comfort, Nightmares end up bringing out positive and comforting emotions coming from those bugs. That was what King Grimm fed on. Not the fear coming out from the bug (that’s what Nightmares itself thrived on, yes), but the relief and comfort the bugs of the mortal realm felt once they wake up from nightmares. It warmed his heart seeing things like that. Dreams on the other hand can be quite tricky. They can fool many bugs into believing things that are quite impossible. They say it’s okay to dream, but Grimm saw that expression more of a term of motivation, not as a way of life. 

Now, how did the Nightmare Realm separate from the Dream Realm?

The goddess wanted bugs to adore her, like actual mortal bugs. She thought of the other ruler of the Dream Realm, Unn. Unn had her followers, so the goddess decided to have bugs obey her too. So one day, she created the Moth Tribe. And while her husband was initially okay with it, he saw how all the attention his wife got started to warp her personality. The Moth Tribe worshipped and basked in the light of their Creator. These Moths were pacifists by nature, which was good. But it was worshipping, the attention, how they saw her as the goddess that she was… It did something with the wife’s mind. And with that, the Moth Tribe were united under one mind. They weren’t slaves per say to the goddess, but they didn’t really have a free will. 

King Grimm already had followers of his own, but he granted them free minds of their own. And with the Moth Tribe already created, the goddess tried to instill her hive mind mentality onto his followers. She somehow saw his followers as a threat to her children. It’s dangerous for bugs to have free minds of their own, according to the goddess. And that made him upset. For the first time, the husband and wife fought. Many years passed, and their relationship started getting worse.

That’s when the goddess encountered a major problem. Another Higher Being came into existence. This one was a Wyrm, a pale looking bug but its size and power was impressive. It settled into a land in the mortal realm, shed its shell and was reborn into another body. One that fitted in with the rest of the world and the bugs there. The husband and wife watched closely as this Pale Wrym established a kingdom, and granted the bugs free will and limitless knowledge. Word in the Dream Realm quickly got around that this Higher Being gave out an independent mindset. Some of Unn’s followers started to look up to this new king and Unn herself didn’t mind, as long as they don’t forget her as their creator. Unn’s physical body settled somewhere in the kingdom after that. 

It was what happened next that truly angered the goddess. 

The Pale King of the kingdom that was called Hallownest managed to convince the Moth Tribe to join him as his devoted followers, and so they did. They all turned their backs on their Creator and basked in the brilliant white light of the king instead. With no physical body, the goddess was forgotten and banished, forever locked away in the realm of Dreams. Completely forgetting the anger he had towards his wife, King Grimm did his best to comfort her. With her existence almost entirely forgotten, her form grew weak.

But the goddess was furious, fuming mad. Over the years, she planned her revenge against the king, and the bugs who had forgotten about her. She had her plan all set up, now she was just waiting for the right moment. And eventually, it did. The citizens of Hallownest started remembering her, who she was. From there, the goddess appeared to them through their dreams. Invaded them, corrupted them and she put them all into her hive mind with the last of strength. From there, she started something terrible. Truly terrible. The thoughts, the dreams of those bugs got so corrupt that it started an Infection. And that Infection eventually started spreading throughout Hallownest. 

When Grimm started realizing what his wife was doing, he got very angry with her. Grimm’s followers saw him as a benevolent and soft spoken figure. He rarely gets upset, and is always seen with a soft smile on his wife. They’ve never seen him this angry, especially with his wife. He confronted the goddess, asking her why she had done this. They argued, shouting words they have never uttered to each other in the years they were married. The wife threatened the husband that she will also corrupt and infect his people if he didn’t back off. That struck a nerve within him. The husband was hesitant to fight against his wife, but then return the threat to her. Do not mess with his people, was his warning. Angered, the wife lashed out.

And for the first time ever, the two battled. 

Each of them did not know the extent of their powers. Both were quick, and powerful. The husband was nimble and fought with grace but ultimately was holding back his full power. He didn’t want to fight and hurt his wife. He loved her. The goddess on the other hand was unrelenting and merciless. In the end, the wife plunged her many white spears right through the chest of her husband. Both were shocked at the outcome, neither of them saying anything. The goddess took out the spear from her husband's chest, and with it, his scarlet heart. Betrayal was all she saw within Grimm’s eyes, and she burst out sobbing. The goddess collapsed into a heap on the floor, crying and mourning. She dropped her spear on the floor and covered her face with her wings. Grimm, ever so compassionate till the very end stumbled over to where his wife was and gave her a hug. He felt no hatred whatsoever towards her. Finally letting go of her, he stood up and limped away. He was dying, and he didn’t want his wife seeing that. But because of these events, he knew that the Nightmare Realm was no longer safe within her kingdom. 

They exiled themselves, leaving the dream realm and now travelling between other realms. But Grimm didn’t survive the trip. Weakened, his body failed him and he collapsed. Though his heart was still okay somehow, his body was not. With the help from his people, created a replacement body for his heart. The heart of Grimm will now be living inside another body. But with his heart damaged and unable to stay within the dream realm, it will forever be weakened. So they decided that the heart will be kept in the new Nightmare Realm. The new realm will be within the mind of the host. The host’s body was made solely of Nightmare Essence and would need to collect more flames eventually. But that was something Grimm’s descendants must figure out. He took his last breath, still clutching the piece of his wife’s soul in his hands. 

The goddess knew her husband was dead. The piece of his soul, a scarlet flame that burned bright, was finally extinguished. Aside from mourning, the goddess finally descended into a spiral of madness. She had just lost everything: her husband, her people… and her own mind. 


End file.
